


Metamorphosis

by ThanksForListening



Category: One Day at a Time (TV 2017)
Genre: Addiction, F/M, Fluff, I wrote this instead of writing an actual homework assignment oops, Slight Angst?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-16
Updated: 2019-02-16
Packaged: 2019-10-29 09:06:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,065
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17805131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThanksForListening/pseuds/ThanksForListening
Summary: After Victor's wedding, Schneider and Avery have a heart to heart.





	Metamorphosis

Schneider didn’t know what to do. As he pulled into the garage, he kept glancing at the woman sitting next to him. Avery was staring out the window, absentmindedly fiddling with her bracelet. They’d been like this the entire way back from the wedding -- him, driving and not talking; her, staring out the window and not talking. It wasn’t a bad silence, but as he parked the car, he wasn’t sure he was brave enough to say everything he’d needed to, everything he’d spent the drive home thinking about. They’d talked at the wedding — he’d apologized profusely, she’d accepted his apologies — but he still felt like he owed her something, an explanation that he wasn’t sure he was ready to give.  


Shutting the engine off, he turned toward her. “Um, so I--”  


“Have you ever thought about butterflies?” she asked, still looking out the window.  


He paused. “What?”  


“We’re doing a butterfly unit in my classroom, and I keep thinking about how we call them butterflies. I mean, they’re caterpillars when they’re born, and even though we call them caterpillars, we know they’re really just pre-butterflies.”  


“Uhh, yeah,” he said, trying and failing to figure out where she was going with this. “I guess we do.”  


“Everyone thinks that they just suddenly turn into a real butterfly one day, but it’s not that easy. They have to live an entire life as a completely different creature. They have to go through all this work as a caterpillar just to stay alive long enough to build a cocoon, which they have to make themselves and break out of, while also completely changing their body so they can begin life as an actual butterfly!” She took a breath. “All that work for a pair of wings.”  


“Huh. I’ve never really thought about it that way.”  


“Exactly!” She turned to face him. “The entire time they’re going through all that work, spending every second of every day trying to make themselves better, to become who they really are, they’re hidden in a cocoon. Nobody sees what they go through. Nobody even gives them a second thought. We all see a caterpillar and expect it to magically become a butterfly, but it takes effort! And time! And they have to do it all by themselves.” She looked back out the window. “It isn’t fair.”  


“Yeah,” he said, “I guess it’s not.”  


Avery was staring at her lap now, fiddling with the bracelet again. Schneider had half a mind to reach out for her, to grab her hand in his and calm whatever was clearly upsetting her, but he wasn’t sure he had a right to anymore.  


“It’s just,” she continued, “I keep staring at these cocoons in our classroom. And I want to scream. I want to go over to them and say ‘I see you! I know it’s hard right now, but there are so many cool things coming. You’re going to fly! You’re going to come out of that shell and be beautiful, and all the work you put in now is going to pay off, and the world will be better because you’re in it. And it’ll still be hard. Life won’t be any easier because you’re a butterfly now instead of a caterpillar, but it’s worth it, I promise.’” She took a shaky breath. “I have so much I want to say, but they can’t hear me.”  


He wasn’t sure when she had started crying, but suddenly tears were slowly rolling down her face. “Hey,” he said, acting on his earlier urge to reach for her hands that were now trembling in her lap. “It’s okay.”  


As he grabbed her hand, she looked up at him, and he froze. She was staring at him like they’d been apart for years instead of a month, like she’d been the one to ruin their relationship instead of him. She looked heartbroken, and angry, and desperate, and he imagined this is what he looked like before she walked into the reception earlier today. For the life of him he could not figure out why she was wearing his reflection.  


She took her hands out of his and put them on the sides of his face. “I see you,” she said. “Through all of it, the good and the bad, the easy and the hard, I see you. I don’t want to you run away again, to go into a cocoon and hide all your pain from me. I don’t want you to be the butterfly, okay? I want you to hear me when I tell you that you’re not alone.”  


He was the one crying now, but he nodded anyway. “I’m sorry,” he said, “I’m sorry I cut you out before. I didn’t -- I didn’t want you to see me like that. I didn’t want anyone to see me like that.”  


“I know,” she said, “But I want to be here for you. However I can.” she took a breath. “I love you, Schneider. That hasn’t changed. But I can’t do anything if you don’t let me in.”  


He nodded, and she leaned in to kiss him. He could feel her tears on her face, tears he caused, and it made him want to grab onto her and never let go again. “I love you,” he whispered, their faces inches apart from one another, “And I will never stop being sorry for all the pain I caused you. You deserve better than that, better than me.”  


“Hey,” she said, “Don’t say that. I choose you -- today, and tomorrow, and every day after. I want you, Schneider, just as you are. There is no one better.”  


She kissed him again, and he had a feeling in his gut, a voice in his head telling him _this is it._  


When they finally broke apart, he realized they were still sitting in the garage. As they got out of the car, he couldn’t stop staring at her, at this magnificent woman he’d somehow managed to hold onto. She noticed him staring, and reached for his hand. He held onto it, silently vowing to never let it go, let _her_ go, again. As they went inside, he leaned over and whispered in her ear, “You make me want to fly, Avery.” When she smiled back at him, the voice echoed again and again, _this is it. This is it. This is it._

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!! Kudos and comments are v much appreciated. I tried to tread lightly bc i know addiction is incredibly serious and also something i know very little about so pls let me know if anything in here is triggering or needs to me edited/removed/tagged differently!
> 
> also find me on tumblr if u want @Thanks--for--listening


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